Drake Asks Judge To Ban Net Worth Talk In Upcoming Trial

Drake is reportedly asking a judge to not disclose his net worth during an upcoming trial. According to The Blast, the platinum-selling superstar is asking the judge to ban any evidence of his immense wealth.

The trial is the result of a 2014 case involving the estate of jazz musician Jimmy Smith and the Hebrew Hustle imprint. The estate sued Drake for allegedly using a sample of Smith’s on his track, “Pound Cake/Paris Morton Music 2.”

In June 2017, U.S. District Court Judge William H. Pauley III declared Drake legally sampled the 1982 spoken-word recording, “Jimmy Smith Rap,” under fair use doctrine and didn’t commit any copyright infringement.

Following Drake’s victory, he filed a counter-suit against Hebrew Hustle and accused the company of using his face and name on its website to make it appear they’d worked together in the past. He alleges that damaged his brand so he sued for unspecified damages.

On November 9, Drake filed court docs asking the judge to prohibit any evidence of his “financial condition or comparative wealth” or talk about his wealth in court. He believes it would unfairly prejudice the jury.

Hebrew Hustle filed court docs seeking to ban expert testimony Drake planned on presenting regarding the value of his name and image.

The expert put a value of $1 million on using Drake’s name on the website.

He compared the fees of other celebrities who get paid an insane amount of money to appear at clubs or endorse various business ventures. He reportedly cited the Kardashians getting $1 million to appear at a club, Alicia Keys’ $3 million deal with Gunthy-Renkers, Gwyneth Paltrow’s $3 million makeup deal and a Lebron James sponsored tweet going for $140,000.

A judge has yet to rule on either motion.

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